durative

American

[door-uh-tiv, dyoor-] / ˈdʊər ə tɪv, ˈdyʊər- /

adjective

Grammar.

noting or pertaining to a verb aspect expressing incomplete or continued action. Beat and walk are durative in contrast to strike and step.

durative British

/ ˈdjʊərətɪv /

adjective

denoting an aspect of verbs that includes the imperfective and the progressive

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

noun

1. the durative aspect of a verb
2. a verb in this aspect

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of durative

First recorded in 1885–90; durat(ion) + -ive

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Yet as soon as we give the “durative” notion of being red an inceptive or transitional turn, we can avoid the parallel form “it becomes red, it turns red” and say “it reddens.”

From Project Gutenberg

The thing called money thus is a durative good passing from hand to hand in a community, and completing its use in turn to each possessor of it only as he parts with it.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023